Insane - Who Are You To Judge? (Gripping Psychological Thriller)

Chapter 26 - Avery

"Grant and Flynn," the Chief calls and both Grant and James's heads perk up. "There's been another Jane Doe found in a skip in an alley off of the town square – go check it out. White—"

"But, Chief," James exclaims and the Chief cranks his neck towards him, unamused by the interjection. "I'm still working on the most recent GR case with Ellis."

"Oh is that what you call it – working? You've got no leads, no suspects, no motive and no tips. I'm not taking you off the case, I'm just giving you another. You're a sergeant, you should be able to cope with more than one task."

Chief then continues handing out the jobs for the day and James gulps and shrinks back into the wall.

After the briefing, Harry catches up with James and accompanies him to his office. "Hey, mate. I can't believe that – putting you on another case."

James just shrugs. "Yeah, but I mean he isn't wrong. We really haven't come up with anything. The closest we came to identifying a suspect was those CCTV tapes and surprise, surprise they didn't turn up anything."

Harry agrees. "I can't believe the tapes of the last two outside cameras were missing. We could've seen GR going through the girl's window." Having reached James's office, Harry crouches down and fusses over the slobbering bloodhound. "Hey, Bertie. But still," he adds, "this case is over a decade old. Even if we haven't got anything for this specific murder, surely it shouldn't be brushed over so soon."

"Well they've got guys going over the old cases all the time. We don't even know if this was actually him – it could easily be a copycat. So we've gotta treat this like any other case."

Harry's face expresses concern; he doesn't want this person to go unidentified. He feels as though it's been so long that people are beginning to care less and less with each death.

Sensing his worry, James reassures him, "don't worry, mate – we'll get him. But in the meantime, I've got to go find Grant. Any chance you want to do your work in my office today and keep an eye on Bertie?"

Harry moans about how he doesn't want to babysit the smelly mutt, but he reluctantly agrees. In truth, Harry has begun to grow quite fond of the animal. Although it does carry a less than pleasant aroma and it has some attachment issues, Bertie seems to always have a glint in his eye and he is always wagging his tail. Seeing something still so happy after losing his only partner, it gives Harry hope.

After his rough sleep last night, Harry is unenthusiastic about accomplishing anything too productive today. He's just glad he is able to take his mind off it for even a minute. It's gotten worse recently, Harry doesn't know what triggered it. Perhaps it is the rough patch he's having with Martha; however their problems aren't exactly a new occurrence, they've been disconnected for longer than the two of them care to admit. Perhaps Harry got his hopes up too high again of catching them after their reappearance.

Harry is pleased when his phone takes him away from the meaningless tasks he has been using to procrastinate. Since he and James will no longer be together every day, Harry feels less paranoid that James will become suspicious of his activities. So, he arranges to meet up with them for lunch. His phone lights up, notifying Harry of their confirmation and one o'clock approaches quickly. Harry is up and heading out the station within a second of the time change.

On his way out, Harry waves to Karen.

Since Mr Christian Grey paid a visit, Karen has been wearing contact lenses instead of her 60s style glasses, and she's started wearing her hair down in wavy locks that frame her face rather than the slicked-back ballerina bun she used to have every day. Harry notices the wobbly black line hugging her top lash line and the two circles of rouge plopped on the apples of her cheeks. She seems to have more confidence now.

This lunchtime, Harry doesn't go to the Cosy Coffee and order his standard black Americano, with a grilled cheese on the side. He fears if he goes there he will be seen.

Instead, the two of them lunch in a rundown corner shop that has only two tables and that cowers at the sight of new customers. The greasy owner of the joint is expressionless, showing no enthusiasm about their presence actually giving him business. He wears a t-shirt one size too small so it doesn't cover the bottom of his stomach, which is folded over his worn-out denim jeans.

Harry is almost certain that he will get food poisoning from his Coronation chicken, nevertheless he knows he is safe from being discovered.

They both emit a suspicious aura and are quick to scoff down their meals. They only saw each other yesterday, but they already have so much more to tell one another.

They are both unsure of whether this can carry on, if it is the smart thing to do. Perhaps they are being foolish.

Harry reassures them both, though. He has grown too attached, he couldn't end it even if he wanted to. They have dived in too deep now.

"There's my boy!" James calls, as he crouches down and Bertie jumps into his lap. "Were you a good doggy for Uncle Harry?"

"Yeah, he wasn't the worst company," Harry admits. "He definitely smells better than you."

James pouts defensively. "What do you mean? This," he gestures to his entire body, "is where the goods are."

Harry laughs sarcastically. "Nah, but seriously, I got a bunch of work done over lunch and we even had a little bonding session."

"Oh, you were here all lunch?" James frowns, Harry nods. "I just passed Chief and he said he wanted me to make sure you were back 'cos he saw you head out."

"Oh right, yeah, yeah. I just nipped out to my car to grab my salad. I've gotta eat sometime." Harry chuckles faintly, "he probably just missed me coming back in."

"Anyway," Harry says after a long pause. "What's the deal with the alley chick?"

James slumps down into his chair and the seat drops to half a foot above the ground. "Well, whoever did it was no expert. The clean-up was sloppy and forensics have found fingerprints and hair samples all over the place. It certainly doesn't look like it was planned and there was definitely a struggle. We'll get more info back with the autopsy report, I suppose."

"Oh okay, so it's looking like a pretty standard murder? Probably an argument gone too far? Do you know who she is yet?" The room vibrates with the speedy tapping of Harry's foot.

"Yeah, doesn't look like a mugging since none of her belongings were gone and no, we don't have an ID for her yet." James's eyebrows furrow. "What's got you so interested?"

Harry's face presents a defensive expression. "I'm a homicide detective. Aren't I supposed to be interested in homicides?" Harry jokes.

James shakes it off with a wave of his hand.

"What have you got to do this afternoon? Should we look into some tips from the public on the GR case?" Harry suggests.

James tenses and his face is now stiff. "Yeah sure, um, I've just got a meeting with Chief first. We have to go over some stuff. Just need to finish closing some cases. I'll give you a shout when I'm done."

His tone indicates that he wants Harry to leave. Harry's slightly thrown off by the cold undertone, but he doesn't think anything of it – putting it down to stress.

Giving Bertie's head a quick scratch, he heads back to his cubicle with the intention of getting some work done.

His intention falls short when the images from his dream last night claw at his memory and refuse to give him any peace.